#THE MARTIAN MOVIE LENGTH CODE#
#THE MARTIAN MOVIE LENGTH SERIES#

Notice how each quartile (the circled separations) is of roughly the same length. And then, showing where the two Pinch Points are (within squares), in the exact middle of the Part 2 and Part 3 quartiles. I folded back the pages where the three major milestones were (circled), thus separating the book into four quartiles. HereвЂ™sВ a picture of the paperback after I finished with it. Separating those quartiles are three major story milestones (think of them as story twists, though each has a more specific mission than simply twisting thing), and then spicing up the Part 2 and Part 3 quartiles withВ a story beat known as the Pinch Point, which also has a specific role. Using The Martian as a model, youвЂ™ll see that a well-told story breaks a story into four parts, of roughly equal quartile lengths, each of which has a unique narrative context, a specific role in the unfolding story.

#THE MARTIAN MOVIE LENGTH CODE#

When an editor says, for example, вЂњ nothing happens for too long, you need better pacing,вЂќ that is code for fixing your structure to include a stronger hook, a more powerful first quartile and a more effective and properly placed First Plot Point. Which almost always happens when the edits are valid. вЂ“ or, as WeirвЂ™sВ posts evolved via feedback or simply his own notionsВ thatВ changes needed to be made, the direction of hisВ edits pushed the story into a closer alignment with the principles of story structure. вЂ“ he was either a savant genius who brought a keen story sensibility to the telling (because the very essence of a keen story sensibility by definitionВ alreadyВ aligns with the principles of story structure this is the Stephen King approach, by the wayвЂ¦ when he tells you to just sit down and write, to go with the flow, see what happens, heвЂ™s assuming you know what he knowsвЂ¦ do you?) If he didnвЂ™t, you can bet that one of two things came to bear:

#THE MARTIAN MOVIE LENGTH SERIES#

I have no idea whether author Andy Weir knew about or cared about story structure when he wrote The Martian, initially a series of blog posts which became a Kindle ebook and then a traditionally-published bestseller. This includes writers who claim to be pantsers, and writers who mistakenly believe that вЂњstory trumps structure,вЂќ all of whom end up doing exactly this using a different vocabulary and process. Even writers who donвЂ™t think of it this way or call it this, when they succeed, are following this structural paradigm. If you doubt this, donвЂ™t make any bets yet, because virtually every published commercial novel and mainstream movie proves this to be true. Rather вЂ“ much like the wings of an airplane or the formula for a cancer curing medicine вЂ“ it is something that is universal, proven and flexible only to a point (writers mess with this at their own peril), and it servesВ the writer (this being a massive understatement) who either plans for it or revises toward it, often unknowingly. Structure, in a story that works, isnвЂ™t something you get toВ make up. If that second-to-last sentence reads like Greek to you, I recommend you bone up on the topic of story structure, using the Search function to the right of this page (keep clicking on вЂњOlder PostsвЂќ under the listings you see), or reading any of my three writing books.

(If youвЂ™re noticing that this pic of the book looks, well, a little oddвЂ¦ thereвЂ™s a reason for that, which will be revealed shortly.) Which, in case you have no sense of whatвЂ™s next, perfectly aligns with the principles and paradigms of classic story structure, with barely a single percentage point or two variance from the optimal locations of the major milestone moments that separate each of the requisite four story quartiles. The backstory of how this book happened and how it became the all-time dream-shot of any author in any genre, is covered HERE.Д«ut youвЂ™ll want to come right back to this page (IвЂ™ll put a link there to make it easier), because, as promised, this post deconstructs the book to illustrate its structure. Two days ago I wrote about the phenomenon called The Martia n, a 2009 self-published novel that against all odds found an agent and became a New York Times bestseller, and then was made into the current hit movie (and Oscar contender in several categories) by the same name, starring Matt Damon.

The martian movie length